rabbit died..... why?

i went to check on my 6 bunnies this morning, and one of the younger ones was dead. i couldnt tell you how old they are, as the previouse owner didnt tell me and i dont have much experience. but it was a dutch around 3lb. one of the white ones.
anyways. it wasnt particularly hot or anything. actualy has been about 5-10 degrees cooler the past 2 days.
it had not been dead too awful long when i found it. i would say about3-6 hours. it wasnt completely stiff yet. still a teeny bit warm. so i decided to keep the skin. oddly the skin on the inside was greenish. not all of it, but there were deffinite green areas. im not sure if this is just because it was dead or what. i have no idea what could have caused it. i did feed them some cantaloupe rind a few days ago, and some turnip greens almost a week ago, but otherwise they have only eaten pellets and the little remaining grass in the colony.
so, any ideas what may have caused the death?

i went to check on my 6 bunnies this morning, and one of the younger ones was dead. i couldnt tell you how old they are, as the previouse owner didnt tell me and i dont have much experience. but it was a dutch around 3lb. one of the white ones."

White Dutch? Red, brown or blue eyes? I didn't think Dutch came in solid colors. Meaty rabbits for their size. I might be interested in an albino example.

"anyways. it wasnt particularly hot or anything. actualy has been about 5-10 degrees cooler the past 2 days.
it had not been dead too awful long when i found it. i would say about3-6 hours. it wasnt completely stiff yet. still a teeny bit warm. so i decided to keep the skin. oddly the skin on the inside was greenish. not all of it, but there were deffinite green areas. im not sure if this is just because it was dead or what."

I've never seen "green" such as you describe. Could be it was dead longer than you think. Also, Dutch are usually black/White, blue/white, brown/white, red/white, etc. If you had a brown or blue eyed white Dutch type rabbit, then the underside of the skin would have color in places, due to pigmentation.

"i have no idea what could have caused it. i did feed them some cantaloupe rind a few days ago, and some turnip greens almost a week ago, but otherwise they have only eaten pellets and the little remaining grass in the colony.
so, any ideas what may have caused the death?

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The are so many possible reasons for this rabbits' death. Without more information or a chance to look at the rabbit myself, it is impossible for me to say. There are many variables when it comes to raising healthy animals, including rabbits. We keep ours above the ground in hanging cages, so we can better control their environment, including what they eat. We feed only quality commercial grade pellets and rarely do we give treats. They do get a little hay from the nest basket or if we see GI problems, but even hay is not fed on a regular basis.

Many people raise rabbits in a colony system, just as many people choose to free range poultry. It really depends on what a persons goals are. When I have free ranged any kind of animal, I expected predation and unexplained losses. IMPO, one should do the same when colony raising rabbits. In the wild rabbit losses run very high. Kit mortality runs about 80% and the average wild rabbit does not live beyond 4 months. That is according to the LA. Dept. of Wildlife as concerns cottontail rabbits. I don't know what it is for european rabbits (from which your domestics are descended) in the wild, but I would expect it to be similar. Your colony rabbits should have a little better chance, because you have at least some control. However, I would expect your losses to be higher than in a more controlled environment. There are many folks on this forum that raise colony rabbits and hopefully some of them can give you a better idea of what might have caused this rabbits' death. If you get it figured out, please let the rest of the group know what you found out. Sometimes they just drop dead, usually from heart attack or ruptured artery.